Suspect faces trial in 1997 Allentown shooting

Man now in prison on drug charges is accused in woman's death.

May 26, 2006|By Manuel Gamiz Jr. Of The Morning Call

Hours after Christine Kennedy was shot dead in front of an Allentown bar in 1997, police arrested Omar Powell but only charged him with possession of a handgun because not enough evidence linked him to the killing, authorities said.

Almost eight years later, a New York man who says he was Powell's drug-dealing partner turned on him, and on Thursday testified that he was in a car with Powell and handed him the gun that he used to shoot the 38-year-old Allentown woman three times in the head.

After the sidewalk shooting, Powell "ran back to the car and Omar said "I think she's dead, I think she's dead,"' testified Dimitris Smith during Powell's preliminary hearing before District Judge David Leh of Allentown. "I just told him to get me up out of here."

Leh ruled that enough evidence exists to send a homicide charge against Powell to Lehigh County Court. Powell, 27, is serving 22 years on federal drug charges in a federal prison in New Jersey. He is eligible for parole in 2022.

During his testimony Smith admitted that he lied during the initial police investigation into Kennedy's killing and also admitted that he stashed the .25-caliber handgun allegedly used in the slaying.

He said he was testifying against Powell because he hoped to lighten his 14-year, two-month federal drug sentence. Smith, from Brooklyn, N.Y., was indicted along with seven other men in a federal drug case out of Monroe County in September 2002. Smith was 24 at the time of the indictment. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced in April 2004.

Smith testified that, through his attorney, he contacted federal authorities in January 2005 and told them, "I know about a homicide that happened in Allentown in 1997."

In 1997, Smith and Powell sold crack cocaine in the Allentown area, and had stopped selling drugs for another dealer to go into business on their own, Smith testified. The two men went to New York to pick up crack cocaine and a "bag of guns" to protect themselves from retaliation for leaving the dealer, he testified.

The two men, along with two others, drove back to Allentown and stopped at a gas station at Tilghman and Seventh streets, where Powell saw Kennedy, whom he knew as a crack cocaine user and regular customer, Smith testified. Powell also said she was going to testify against him in a drug case the next day, March 11, 1997, Smith said.

"He said, "there goes that right there,' " Smith said. The men drove to another location and Smith said he opened the bag containing about a half-dozen guns and picked out a loaded .25-caliber gun "because it was little," he said. He handed the gun to Powell who went "to go get" Kennedy and returned moments later, Smith testified. Smith hid the gun for two weeks in Allentown before disposing of it in New York, he said.

Kennedy's body was found on the sidewalk at the southeast corner of Seventh and Allen streets in front of what was then the LA Bar & Grill shortly after 3:30 a.m. on March 10, 1997, testified Robert Palmer, a former Allentown detective and now the Alburtis police chief.

Kennedy had a troubled past that included a record of theft, drug possession and prostitution. In court, Smith referred to Kennedy as a "crackhead."

Beata Stephenson, Kennedy's sister, said she was happy that Smith was testifying against the alleged shooter, even though he did it only to help himself.

"My sister had a rough life, but she shouldn't have had her life taken from her," Stephenson said after the hearing. "She left behind a 4-year-old daughter. [Powell] does not know what it is like to be a 4-year-old child and lose your mother." Since Kennedy's death, Stephenson has raised her sister's daughter.

Several times during the hearing, Powell's attorney, Gavin P. Holihan of Allentown, questioned Smith's honesty. Smith admitted he has been arrested in the past on drug charges, as well as charges of armed robbery and unsworn falsification, or lying.

After court, Holihan said Smith should be charged as an accessory to homicide because he handed the gun to Powell and then hid it.

"It is this simple: If you believe what he said today, he is guilty of conspiracy to murder and he is guilty of murder as an accomplice," Holihan said. "Either he isn't because of the bargain that he is getting or the government does not believe him."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said there is no statute of limitations on homicide charges in the state; however, he does not know the details of Smith's negotiations with federal authorities. However, the statute of limitations on the drug and weapon charges Smith would face for admitting to them has run out, he said.